Fire and Life Safety
The City’s motto “Living Right in Ridgeland” includes living safely. The most well known jobs of a fire department are fire suppression, rescue, and emergency medical care. However, we strongly feel that providing fire and life safety information to the public before an emergency occurs is an equally important job.
Fire and Life Safety Facts and Statistics
The United States is the worst industrialized nation in the world in terms of fire loss (injuries, deaths, and property loss). In this country, Mississippi annually ranks #1 (and less often #2) in fire deaths per capita. Unfortunately, our state ranks near the top in terms of unintentional (and preventable) injuries from other causes also. Besides fire and burn injuries, areas of concern are motor vehicle injuries, poisoning injuries, fall injuries, firearms injuries, bike and pedestrian injuries, water injuries, choking, suffocation, and strangulation injuries, and injuries caused by severe weather. Risk groups from highest to lowest are children, then senior adults, and finally the rest of the population.
Fire and Life Safety Educational Services for the Public
Committed to your “Living Safely in Ridgeland,” the Ridgeland Fire Department provides these public fire and life safety educational services:
Fire Academy for Kids
Fire Academy for Kids is a fun, educational, action-oriented program with two goals: to give children more life safety skills in fire safety, first aid, and injury prevention; and to introduce them up close and personal to firefighters, the equipment they use, and the jobs they perform. The prior will lead to increased life safety behaviors, by preparing the children to be able to prevent a fire or injury, and by preparing them to be able to react correctly should a fire or medical emergency occur. The latter will give them a better appreciation of firefighters and their often dangerous job, and it will provide information to those who may be thinking about a future career in the fire/rescue service.
Basic Home Fire Safety Information
Smoke is the biggest killer in a fire, followed by heat and flames. But time is your worst enemy. In as little as two minutes (less time than a television commercial), a fire that just started could be filling your home with smoke and heat, and a whole room could be engulfed in flames! Having the safety knowledge and taking safety actions in your home before the fire could help buy the time you need to escape and survive a fire. About 80% of all fire deaths occur in the home. The knowledge and suggested safety actions provided below can help keep you and your family out of this statistic!
